Definition
For women who gave birth in the last three to five years, PPABMOC_01 (M9_1) reports their calculated months of postpartum abstinence (after the last birth), including the duration for women who were still abstaining at the time of the interview. The similar variable PPABMO_01 also reports the calculated months of postpartum abstinence but excludes women who were still abstaining when interviewed.
According to the DHS Recode Manuals, the maximum period allowed during the data editing was the interval between the date of birth of the child and the date of conception of the following child (with date of birth minus nine months used for the date of conception) or until the date of interview if there was no following birth. Cases exceeding this duration are coded with one of the flag codes on PPABFLAG_01 and are coded as "Inconsistent" in PPABMOC_01.